Devices for orally administering treatment liquids to animals

ABSTRACT

A device for administering to animals a treatment liquid stored in a container, the device comprising a hollow loop serving as a flow conduit between the container and a flexible nozzle mounted on one side of the loop adapted to direct a jet of the liquid toward the back of the animal&#39;s throat. The loop has a geometry close to that of an equilateral triangle, the corners of which adjacent the side which carries the nozzle being rounded whereby the loop may be clamped very firmly on the nose of the animal without inflicting pain.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION Field of Invention

This invention relates generally to the breeding of animals, and moreparticularly to a device for orally administering to animals liquidmedicaments and other treatment solutions.

The prior art discloses various devices for orally administering fluidsto animals. Thus the 1938 German Pat. No. 662,740 to Massler; the 1911German Pat. No. 246,041 to Lappat and the 1923 German Pat. No. 372,798to Keller show devices of this type which take the form of a bit towhich a funnel is attached to feed liquid into the animal by gravityflow. In the 1977 U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,460 to Magrath and in the 1980French Pat. No. 2,434,613 to Begouen, liquid is forced into the animalby a device which employs manual pressure for the purpose.

Of greatest prior art interest is the device disclosed in the pendingFrench application No. 80/17143 of Begouen in which the liquid to beadministered is contained in a flexible bulb coupled to a flow conduitformed by a hollow trapezoidal loop functioning as a bit which isinserted in the mouth of the animal.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

In view of the foregoing, the main object of this invention is toimprove the device disclosed in the above-identified French applicationby providing a flow loop more compatible with the morphology of theanimals to be treated so as to permit the loop to be better positionedin the animal's mouth.

More specifically, an object of this invention is to provide a flow loopthat can be firmly clamped onto an animal's nose without inflictingpain.

Also an object of the invention is to provide an improved flow loop ofthe above type which is adapted to promote liquid flow in differentsituations.

Briefly stated, a device in accordance with the invention foradministering a treatment liquid to an animal comprises a hollow loopwhich is configured to encompass the upper jaw and nose of the animaland which functions as a conduit for the treatment liquid. The hollowloop which is coupled to liquid supply is provided with a flexiblenozzle for directing a jet of liquid in a direction leading towards thebottom of the animal's throat, the liquid from the supply flowingthrough the loop to the nozzle. The loop has a generally triangularshape approaching that of an equilateral triangle, the corners of theloop adjacent the side of the triangle which carries the nozzle beingrounded and of relatively large radius.

The configuration of the loop is such that it can be firmly clamped ontothe nose of the animal, by a pull which causes the loop to engage thebottom of the animal's mouth, this action taking place without causingthe animal to suffer, particularly at the corners of its lips.

In a preferred embodiment, the loop is made of plastic material and isconstituted by a single triangular piece. The loop includes acylindrical boss at the vertex thereof opposite the side carrying thenozzle, the boss having a threaded bore adapted to receive a couplingprovided at opposite ends with two threaded male nipples, which couplinghas a hexagonal grip surface at its central portion. This boss affords astrong base for screwing on the coupling.

In practice, the coupling with two threaded male nipples may be attachedin three different ways. Thus it is attachable to the cap of a bottle(first variant), it can be screwed into a cock member which in turn isattached to a bottle cap (second variant), or it can be connected to aflexible liquid supply tube (third variant).

OUTLINE OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the invention as well as other objects andfurther features thereof, reference is made to the following detaileddescription to be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a loop in accordance with the invention foruse in a treatment liquid administering device;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the loop;

FIG. 2a shows an alternative form of nozzle for the loop;

FIG. 3 is a side view of a first embodiment of this device, in which theloop is coupled to a bottle;

FIG. 4 is a section taken through an enlarged portion of FIG. 3 showinghow the loop is attached to the cap of the bottle (first variant);

FIG. 5 illustrates the manner of applying the device shown in FIG. 3 tothe nose of an animal;

FIG. 6 is a partially cut away side view of a second embodiment of thedevice.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a cock member (second variant); and

FIG. 8 illustrates a third embodiment of the device in which the loop iscoupled to a tube (third variant).

DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown a hollow loop, generallydesignated by numeral 1, for feeding a treatment liquid to an animal.The loop has the general shape of an equilateral triangle, one of whoseside 4 acts as a bit having a nozzle 5 secured at its midpoint. Thecorners 2 and 3 of side 4 are rounded and of a rather large radius, sothat they do not cut into the lips of the animal.

Loop 1 is fabricated of a single piece, preferably of synthetic plasticmaterial. It is provided at its vertex which is opposite side 4 to whichnozzle 5 is attached, with a cylindrical boss 6. Boss 6 has aninternally-threaded axial bore adapted to receive theexternally-threaded male nipple 7' at one end of a cylindrical coupling7 whose opposite end is provided with a male nipple 7". The centralportion 8 of coupling 7 intermediate the nipples has a hexagonal gripsurface. Hollow loop 1 forms a continuous conduit extending between theentry of threaded nipple 7" and the exit of flexible nozzle 5.

Two embodiments of the flexible nozzle and its attachments are provided.In the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the nozzle is made of asmall rubber tube having at one end two diametrically-opposed cut-outsto surround side 4 of the loop and to be fastened thereto by adhesivebonding. The attachment is reinforced by a collar 51. In the secondembodiment of the nozzle, shown in FIG. 2a, a rigid, relatively shortnozzle 52 is attached to side 4 of loop 1, and a flexible nozzle 5' isglued to short nozzle 52.

FIG. 3 shows a manual-pressure administration device in accordance withthe invention composed primarily of loop 1 secured via a cap 17 to theneck 13 of an inverted bottle 16 having deformable walls. Clamped intothe upper end 12 of bottle 16 is a collar 11 having a lever 10 hingedthereon. Lever 10 is provided with an inwardly curved portion 14 whichengages the wall of bottle 14. Hence when a manual force is applied tothe lever, curve portion 14 applies pressure to the wall and as shown indotted lines it acts to deform the wall and thereby squeeze liquid outof the bottle.

Lever 10 has a total length, which extends substantially up to boss 6 ofthe loop and is advantageously provided with a sleeve 15 which is offlexible material. This sleeve can therefore be shifted along lever 10to a position surrounding curved portion 14 to thereby effectivelyenlarge the thickness displaced by the application of manual force tothe sleeve is increased and in fact may be doubled to provide a muchgreater discharge of liquid from the bottom.

FIG. 4 illustrates in greater detail the manner in which loop 1 isfastened to neck 13 of bottle 16 by cap 17 screwed onto the neck. Cap 17has an axial bore in its bottom wall 20 to receive threaded nipple 7". Anut 18 is screwed onto nipple 7" and rests via washer 19 against theinner face of bottom wall 20 to form a sealed joint.

It is to be noted that washer 19 extends well beyond nut 18 overpractically the entire inner face of bottom wall 20 so that the end ofneck 13 can sit tightly against it. Also to be noted is that nut 18 lieswithin neck 13. Thus a strong and leak-proof coupling is provided bythis arrangement between the bottle and the loop, yet the loop may bereadily decoupled from the bottle when it is necessary to replenish theliquid.

One manner of using the device is illustrated in FIG. 5 where it will beseen that an operator is grasping the head of an animal below its jawswith his left hand. At the same time, the operator's right hand isholding the device at position between the bottle and the loop with histhumb engaging one side and his ring finger and little finger engagingthe other side, while his index finger and middle finger rest on theoperating lever.

Since the nose of the animal widens from its end toward its foreheadwhereas the sides of loop 1 converge toward the boss 6 at the vertex, apull exerted by the right hand of the operator in a direction toward theforehead of the animal will necessarily bring side 4 of the loop againstthe upper jaw of the animal, this side acting as a bit. This usefulresult is due to the unique geometry of the loop and makes it convenientto apply the device to an animal regardless of the particular variant inactual use.

FIG. 6 shows a second embodiment of a liquid and administering devicewhich employs gravity flow rather than manual pressure to eject theliquid. In this instance, the device, includes a loop 1 similar to thatof FIGS. 1 and 2, a cock 21 and a bottle 26 coupled by its cap 27 tocock 21.

Bottle 26 is provided at its end opposite to the neck 28 thereof with acircular orifice 25, this orifice being exposed in FIG. 6 by thebroken-away showing. A stopper 29 having a conical form serves to plugorifice 25, the stopper being connected by a cord 29' to the outer wallof the bottle. Cock 21 which is a well known commercially-availabledevice, is a spherical "turning" cock which can be operated by means ofa handle 24, the body of the cock having a hexagonal cross-sectionalform.

As shown in FIG. 7, the body of cock 21 has a threaded bore 22 thereonand a threaded nipple 23 projecting therefrom. Nipple 23 is identical tonipple 7" of the loop coupling 7, while threaded bore 22 corresponds inits diameter and pitch to nipple 7"; hence nipple 7" can be screwed intobore 22.

Thus when cock 21 is screwed onto coupling 6, loop 1 is then coupled tobottle 26 through cock 21 in a manner comparable to that shown in FIGS.3 and 4. In this gravity flow arrangement, the rate of flow iscontrolled by adjustment of cock 21; and when the bottle is empty, itmay be replenished by removing the stopper and refilling the bottle.

In FIG. 8, loop 1, in accordance with the third variant, is connected toa can 30 whose base is provided with a threaded nipple 31. A flexiblepipe 32 is provided at one end with a threaded female coupling 33 whichis screwed onto can nipple 31. The pipe is provided at its other endwith a female coupling 35 which is screwed onto the threaded nipple 23of the cock 21 (see FIG. 7). Pipe 32 is provided at either end bysheathings 34 in the form of coil springs which are linked to the femalecouplings, these springs preventing abrupt bends in the pipe in thevicinity of the couplings. Can 30 is provided with shoulder straps 36making it possible to carry the can in the back.

The three variants disclosed are intended for different applications,all of them having the loop and its coupling in common. The firstvariant (FIG. 3) which uses a pressure-operated squeeze bottle is usefulwhen small and rather precise amounts of liquids must be administered toan animal. The second variant (FIG. 6) which involves gravity flow isuseful in the event a small number of doses of small volume are to beadministered and where an exact dosage is relatively unimportant. Thethird variant (FIG. 8), which is also gravity flow, can be used in casessimilar to the second variant, except that the number of doses to beadministered may be much greater.

Devices in accordance with the inventions are useful for feeding largeanimals of all sorts, from the size of large dogs, up to the size ofcattle and horses.

While there have been shown and described preferred embodiments ofdevices for orally administering treatment liquids to animals, inaccordance with the invention, it will be appreciated that many changesand modifications may be made therein without, however, departing fromthe essential spirit thereof.

I claim:
 1. A device for administering to animals a treatment liquid,said device comprising:A. a container to store the treatment liquid; B.a hollow loop formed of a single piece of tubing and having a geometryclose to that of an equilateral triangle whose two inclined sidescoverge toward a vertex; C. a nozzle mounted on the third side of theloop at a positon opposite to the vertex thereof and adapted to direct ajet of the liquid toward the back of the animal's throat, the corners ofthe loop adjacent said third side being rounded with a relatively largeradius sufficient to avoid cutting the lips of the animal to define abit having a pear-shaped space in the area bounded by the sides which iscompatible with the morphology of the animal being treated, whereby theloop can be clamped very firmly on the nose of the animal withoutinflicting pain; and D. means coupling the vertex of the loop to thecontainer, said loop serving as a conduit to conduct the liquid from thecontainer to the nozzle, said means being constituted by a cylindricalboss at the vertex, which boss has a threaded bore adapted to receiveone eternally-threaded male nipple of a coupling having a secondexternally-threaded male nipple which is coupled to the container.
 2. Adevice as set forth in claim 1, in which the container is a bottlehaving a flexible wall, the bottle having a cap screwed onto its neck,which cap is coupled to the second male nipple, and a lever clamped tothe bottle, the lever having an inwardly curved portion which engagesthe wall, and which when the lever is operated, deforms the wall tosqueeze liquid from the bottle.
 3. A device as set forth in claim 2,wherein the lever is provided with a sleeve of flexible material whichis shiftable along the lever to cover the curved portion thereof andthereby increase its thickness to enchance the deformation of the wall.4. A device according to claim 2, wherein said cap is provided with anaxial hole to receive the second threaded nipple, a nut being screwed onthe second nipple and resting, via a washer forming a sealing joint,against the inner face of the bottom of the cap.
 5. A device accordingto claim 1, further including a cock interposed between the containerand the loop, said cock having at one of its ends a threaded female boreadapted to receive the second threaded nipple of said coupling, and atits other end a threaded nipple.
 6. A device according to claim 5,wherein said container is a can of large volume provided with a threadednipple, and said loop is connected to the said can by a flexible pipe,one of whose ends is provided with a first female coupling screwed ontothe nipple of the can, the other end of the pipe being provided with asecond flexible second female coupling screwed onto the threaded nippleof the cock.